‘LEGO Marvel Super Heroes’ Hands-On Preview

At Comic-Con 2013, we had the opportunity to play the latest iteration in Traveller’s Tales‘ LEGO series, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes — a title tailor made for the Comic-Con crowd. The demo included a full sequence of the game that gave us a solid sense of what the full game will be like.

The demo included a full level featuring The Hulk and Iron Man battling their way through a street block being ravaged by Abomination and Sandman. While Abomination is causing city-wide destruction with his enhanced physique, Sandman is whipping around various LEGO bricks and LEGO creations.

The level itself was well-designed, basically of the quality we have come to expect from Traveller’s Tales’ games. In fact, there was nothing about the demo that struck us as particularly unique, apart from a score multiplier that increases the amount of LEGO bricks that drop after killing an enemy.

While the demo was fairly standard, I’m happy to report that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is everything Marvel fans will want in a game, only with LEGOs. Basically, much like LEGO Batman 2 was the Justice League game fans were hoping for, this game is The Avengers game fans have been hoping for. Obviously, this isn’t exactly the game fans want, but with licensing rights what they are to do, the game is the best we might ever get.

By that I mean the mixing and matching of the Marvel universe that fans eventually hope results from a bigger cinematic universe is on full display in this game. While the demo (which was playable in single player and co-op) mostly focused on The Hulk and Iron Man, there was a sequence where Spider-Man joins in on the action to take down Sandman.

As one would expect, The Hulk, Iron Man, and Spider-Man each have their inherent strengths. Hulk — who can transform between Bruce Banner and The Hulk as needed — is the giant green wrecking ball that he needs to be. He can smash through objects the other two cannot, and he can also pick up and throw larger objects. Iron Man can fire super-charged blasts from his repulsors, fly around at will, and charge up his uni beam for a more damaging attack. And Spider-Man is Spider-Man; swinging around, tying enemies up in webs, using his webs to pull objects down from great heights, and using his spider sense to search for interactive objects.

As a complete demo, the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes‘ vertical slice was everything a LEGO fan would want out of an Avengers game. Obviously, we can’t talk about the game as a whole, but the demo left a solid lasting impression. If you’re a fan of the LEGO games, or even of the Marvel comics universe, it appears as if LEGO Marvel Super Heroes hits all the right notes.

Yes, it’s more of the same, so if you’ve already written the LEGO games off, this game likely won’t convince you that things have changed in any appreciable way, but if you are looking for a good re-entry point for the franchise, this might be that game.

Are you looking forward to LEGO Marvel Super Heroes? What Marvel superhero pairings do you hope are in the game?

From the gameplay I’ve seen online, this game might be similar to LEGO Batman 2, but since the powers and abilities that the Marvel characters have are vastly different to the DC counterparts, there’s a new vibe and feel that felt fresh here.
And yes, this game is developed by Warner Bros Game (and Tt), so obviously copyright issue prevented this to fully maximize it’s ‘Marvel potentials. Then again, did anyone notice Green Arrow was left out in LEGO Batman 2? And to think that DC was their own property XD